Tonight, the Angola Hornets will host the DeKalb Barons in the first game on their state of the art new turf field in Angola. The last few meetings have seen both schools playing competitive football over the years with Angola and DeKalb splitting their last four meetings. Angola is looking to regain their winning ways, while DeKalb is looking for a good start. Who will come out on top??
Here’s an article to outline the matchup.
https://inpreps.com/2022/08/17/ne-indiana-week-1-preview-dekalb-vs-angola/?fs=e&s=cl
Here are the 3 keys to winning this game
1. Stop the run
What’s the one thing I keep hearing from these two teams? We got to stop the run. In just last year’s meeting alone, DeKalb fell behind the 8-ball due to not stopping the Finley Hasselman show and the running game. Despite the fact Angola won’t have his talents anymore, the Hornets still have the speed and athleticism to be explosive again. The Barons must be able to contain Micah Steury at QB and the quick Andre Tagliaferri.
On Angola’s side, they must have a better showing from their front 7 if they’re going to use the talk of preseason into a better 2022 season. Last year, Angola was extremely successful against their run game. However, DeKalb has a talented running back of their own in sophomore Caiden Hinkle who scored his first varsity touchdown against Angola last season as a freshman. Now he’ll have a bigger role to this running game, and Coach Wilcox is banking on an experienced offensive line to do the trick this week and beyond.
2. Stay disciplined (both with the football and with penalties)
This is a crucial part to this game as the first week of the season really tests not just the conditioning aspects of both teams but also their discipline and toughness.
Turnovers were a problem for Angola in 2021, and it’s vital that they don’t give them any extra possessions, especially when their starting QB is Tegan Irk. You can’t give a 1,600 yard quarterback extra possessions and expect to win football games.
For DeKalb, it’s important to stay focused and playing smart football because a team like Angola will definitely attempt to amplify the temperature of this game. So look for the Hornets defensive unit to try to get to their heads early and often, not in a showboating manner per say but in a competitive approach.
3. Limit the Perimeter offense
Everyone and their brother knows the Barons have a kid that knows how to throw the football especially with that spread offense that is known to being super explosive in short spurs. Against Angola alone, he threw for 269 yards and 3 scores. For the Hornets to maintain good positioning in this game, they must find ways to keep Irk’s offense at bay. In other words, Angola cannot allow Irk to burn them with his downfield touchdown passes. If the Hornets can amp up their tackling and create more in-pocket pressure, that might limit some of his abilities. Key word is might (that’s to put it lightly) because center Jack Armstrong and guard Wyatt Birch are very good offensive linemen for DeKalb.
That also means, the Hornets’ secondary will need to step up in defending DeKalb’s explosive receivers. The big one I keep hearing with DeKalb is their tight end Derek OverBay, and my goodness is this guy a stud of a player in that position. Last year against Angola, he had 2 targets for 23 yards. I expect him to be DeKalb’s top target tonight. Don’t overlook Logan Montoya as DeKalb’s receiver from the other side of the field, and Caden Pettis is a wild card option at wide receiver. With the uncertainty surrounding Donnie Wiley’s health in at least the short-term, I could see the Barons going to the junior more.
DeKalb, on the other hand, is going to be a lot more tested on this side of the gameplan because the Barons don’t have the most experienced front 7 out there. That means Wilcox must trust the team’s offseason workouts and some talent to help them overcome some of that varsity experience issue up front. The secondary however should be ok on paper with Quentin Penrod, Logan Montoya, and Alex Leslie. If this secondary is able to frustrate Steury’s mobile, versatile game, it could be a game changer. Steury doesn’t have as much experience as Tyler Call, whose reportedly not playing tonight’s game, but Steury is a 66% passer if we’re going just from last season’s stats alone. DeKalb can’t take his talents lightly. That’s not to mention their receivers are pretty good, and I’ll get to that in a second.
Players to Watch
DeKalb
Tegan Irk
If the Barons are going to win and spoil Angola’s coming out party with their new looking field, Irk has to be the big stud everyone hypes him about. He’s gotta be the alpha leader of this offense and on the sideline. While QB’s can’t really win games on their own, they can certainly lead the way.
As mentioned earlier, Hinkle and Overbay will get plenty of opportunities to get the ball into the end zone. So they’ll be important to watch.
Angola
Lane King
I haven’t talked much yet about him and it’s for a reason. The junior receiver has the framework and the explosive ability to be a big time receiver that gives small schools a headache. Now they must hope he can showcase the hype into results. He did produce 212 receiving yards on 20 catches, and those numbers should increase with this pistol option offense. This is not just because he’s got the talents to impose a threat for opposing defenders as a receiver, but he also can make blocks if he has to. The kid’s very talented in general. Look for Lane to establish his lane and try to take advantage of a less-than-experienced defensive front 7 if Angola’s offense is able to maintain consistency, which hasn’t always been the case in recent seasons.
Other names to watch include Andre The Little Giant Tagliaferri on the ground, and of course the defense with Jack Archbold and Jake Land. If Jack, Jake, and Blake Miller are able to limit the Barons’ giant offensive surges, that to me is the difference between winning and losing this game.
Conclusion
No matter how you sum things up, football is back in Northeast Indiana, and fans are anticipating another exciting fall for their boys. DeKalb and Angola have become great and sometimes nasty rivals over the years, especially on the football field.
This matchup gets severely overlooked because of East Noble, Leo, New Haven, and of course the SAC competition led by Snider’s game with North Side. However, if the game plays out how I dreamed it will, this could end up being another classic Angola-DeKalb barnburner. It happened in 2019, it can happen again. Let’s have some fun!!
Around the NorthEast Corner 